Rainy season

There are basically two seasons in the Eastern Caribbean--rainy and dry. This photo was taken last Nov. after a particularly rainy season. I have seen this same hill brown--it burned one April and the ash drifted up for close to a month.

The rainy season can begin in July or August and runs until Oct. or Nov. By the middle of Nov. the "Christmas" winds begin, which dries things out some and blows away the mosquitoes. It is hot and humid right now, so people are wishing for the winds to start.

During the dry season the grass gets brown and it doesn't take much to start a fire. Since there are water lines only on a couple of the main roads they are forced to let fires burn until it threatens a house. They don't lose many houses, although I wasn't so sure ours wouldn't be the first one time.

Rain affects people here more than it does in the States--most of them grew up when most work was outside, so when it rained they slept in. That's not the case anymore, but old habits die hard. Rain just before time to leave for a Gospel meeting can drastically reduce the number of visitors and even weaker members. So far it has rained during the day, off and on, so attendance continues good--29 & 19 on Sunday, then around 20 every night since then, with 2 denominational preachers in attendance so far. The women preacher wants to come back another night--well that's what she said last night, but I don't know whether she'll want to when she hears from one of her members about tonight's lesson--1 Cor. 14:34 was expounded upon.

Tol